Here's What Really Causes Fridge Explosions

While refrigerator explosions are rare, they're still incredibly dangerous. As Realtor.comreports, Florida resident Mark Ligondie recently had his fridge explode. He heard a loud sound in his fridge and when he rushed into his kitchen, he saw that his family's four-month-old refrigerator was shattered and smoldering.

The explosion was so powerful that it broke a window in Ligondie's master bedroom and created cracks in the surrounding ceilings and walls. Luckily, Ligondie and his family were unharmed.

As Neil Everitt, a former editor at the air-conditioning and refrigeration magazine ACR News, told Realtor.com the reason why fridge explosions are so dangerous is because they often happen spontaneously, while a fire caused by a stove or toaster would create smoke and set off the fire alarm, alerting homeowners to a problem.

The reason fridge explosions happen is usually due to the fridge's compressor. The compressor, located at the back of most fridges, contains a motor and pump which push a gas refrigerant through the compressor's coils. When that gas cools down and turns into a liquid, it soaks up heat in the fridge and cools the items inside.

But sometimes, the back of a fridge can get hot as the refrigerant moves through the compressor, causing the coils to contract, which traps the gas. This makes the gas unable to properly vent and it can burst through the compressor's coils, creating an explosion.

To prevent a fridge explosion in your own home, clean your fridge's coils to make sure that they're not clogged. You should also invest in a newer refrigerator, as modern fridges usually have a heat shield to prevent this from happening, but some models, especially older ones, contain plastic that is highly flammable, and they may also lack other modern safety features.

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